Banned Books Week is coming up fast! This year, it will be celebrated from September 24 to September 30. I’ve always endorsed the idea of Banned Books Week and the fight against censorship, but I’ve never actively celebrated it by reading banned books specifically for the week. Now that I have a book blog, though, it seems like a great time to start!

I actually have three books picked out for this. First on my list is The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This is a classic that I’ve heard amazing, amazing things about, but I just haven’t picked up myself. I need to read a classic by an author of color for my Read Harder challenge, though, and have been planning to read this one for a while to fulfill that challenge, and Banned Books Week seems like the perfect time to finally read it!

From my understanding, The Color Purple deals with some pretty heavy topics, so I think I’ll want to switch it up once I’m done and pick up something lighter. It boggles my mind that the Harry Potter series has been so widely banned (though let’s be real, book banning in general is mind boggling), but the American Library Association lists the series as the most banned book from 2000 to 2009. Since I’ve recently started rereading the Harry Potter series, this seems like the perfect excuse to continue with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The last book I want to pick up is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I’ve actually been meaning to read this book since I was in college and was finally motivated to pick it up during all of the buzz about the new Hulu series, but even though I bought it and got it signed by Margaret Atwood, I still haven’t read it…So yeah, this needs to happen. Plus I’m in the process of whittling down my physical TBR, so I’ll kill two birds with one stone by reading this during Banned Books Week.

So those are the three books I’m planning to read in celebration of Banned Books Week! I’m confident I can at least start all three of these, and I’m pretty sure I can finish them, too, though I’m not sure what else I’d pick up if I do!

Have you read any of these books (besides Harry Potter, of course)? What did you think of them? Are you planning to pick up anything in celebration of Banned Books Week? Let me know in the comments!